Cashing In
by ifiknowyouatall
Summary: This was one debt she had no problem paying.
1. Chapter 1

*Just a quick drabble, nothing too deep or involved. Based on speculation from a smattering of spoilers about the remainder of season 5, but that's not really the focus. This interstitial would fall between 6x1 where any cliffhanger is resolved and 6x2 where the team returns from their yearly break. Also, in case it wasn't obvious, I don't own anything related to NCIS: LA.*

Unceremoniously he sat down on the couch, handing a beer and a pair of chopsticks over to his dining companion.

"Dig in." He said, giving her the unnecessary go ahead to start eating, as she already had the first healing bite half way to her mouth. Smiling, he took a swig of his beer, silently taking in the mountains of boxes that were taking over his, no, their living room. Taking a deep breath, turning to face his partner and new roommate, he began a conversation he knew was going to change nothing and everything at the same time.

"I'm cashing in."

"Excuse me?" She stopped inhaling her dinner, looking at him, a confused expression on her face.

"Cashing in on that debt you owe me, a beer every night for the rest of our lives. I'd like that in writing, a signed contract even."

"Deeks." She began cautiously, thinking she understood what he was getting at, but her fear of getting hurt, even with all the evidence to the contrary, forced her to make sure.

"Let me finish Kens. It's just that after the last six months with the dissolution of the liaison position, becoming an agent to make sure I was part of the retrieval team in Afghanistan, to Mexico and almost losing Hetty and now with Hetty retiring for real, Callen in the wind again, and Granger in charge, I don't want our thing to get lost in the chaos." Finally he took a breath, stopping to gauge her reaction. The last thing he wanted to do was rush her, even with their improved communication skills this was a dangerous topic.

"On the payment of this debt," she said slowly, going back to the original premise. He nodded, allowing himself to smile a bit, but not to speak again. "I have two conditions. First, we do this quietly, confidential license, courthouse on Monday."

"I can handle that, I'll call up a judge I know so we won't have to wait in line." He couldn't help the grin that was spreading across his face.

"Second, you actually ask me." The smile she reserved solely for him matching his own.

"You drive a hard bargain Agent Blye, but I think I can manage that." In this same position as nearly a year ago, she had made the simple request that he watch a horror movie with her. The request to spend the rest of their lives together, turns out, is just as simple.

"Marry me? Marry me? Marry me?"

And when they walked into the Mission weeks later, where everything familiar had changed, subtle thin gold bands adorned each of their left ring fingers. Everything around them might be shifting, but in those simple circles was the assurance that for each other, the essential things remained the same.


	2. Chapter 2

Turns out, I wasn't quite as done with this sorry as I thought I was...characters aren't mine, prompt belongs to aprylynn.

* * *

I want_ a moment of silence, a moment of prayer, for the love we'll need to make it in the world out there. -Don Henle_y

* * *

He was speechless and that didn't happen very often. She walked towards him, looking beautiful in a pale blue sundress. The calm she was exuding was what took his voice away. When she had excused herself briefly from the waiting area of the county clerks office, a part of him still expected her to run.

Yet, here he was, holding open the door to the judge's office, and it was him that was shaking a bit. She gently ran her hand down his right cheek, scratching his stubble lightly. This action, once her silent apology, her unspoken plea for forgiveness, had over time become another one of their non-verbal codes. Without a word, she could say that she was good, great even, that she had his back, had his life, had his heart, all in that simple caress.

He remained speechless until the judge cleared his throat, "Marty, son, you're going to have to repeat after me if you want to make this official. You have the rest of your life to stare at her."

"Someone once told me husbands don't stare at their wives, so I was trying to memorize everything while I still had the chance." Smiling even wider, he obeyed and repeated after the judge, as did she.

Simple gold bands were exchanged and papers signed. It was only after he'd kissed his bride and carried over the threshold that he began to speak again. Looking back on that day decades later, she would always joke that she'd wished she'd appreciated the silence a little bit more and then promptly place a kiss on those chatty lips.

* * *

_I pray we're the lucky ones, I pray we never fall, to want what we have, to take what we're given with grace. -Don Henle_y


	3. Chapter 3

_I think this actually is the final chapter...for reals this time. Characters still rent mine._

* * *

"Did Granger already pull you into an undercover operation Deeks?"

The blond detective-turned-agent looked up from the files he was reviewing at his open-flow-workspace-table mate.

"Not that I know of. Why do you ask?" He asked, honestly confused. Typically a morning person, he'd spent the better part of the night at the emergency vet. Kensi needed to get better about hiding her chocolate stash in the new apartment. Not that he blamed her, she'd beat herself up more than enough last night. And she'd be in any minute, equally bleary-eyed and hopefully bringing copious volumes of coffee. This was quite a way to return from their yearly break.

"No reason. Just know that you're method and I figured Granger had you and Blye going undercover as a couple again." Sam teased. The transition from reluctant coworker to teammate to friend to surrogate brother had been painful at times. But despite their outward appearances, these two men were more alike then anyone realized, especially when it came to the fierce loyalty to the badass women they loved.

"Yeah, that's one cover Kensi and I don't really need to practice." Deeks joked about the office's worst-kept non-secret. Their relationship had never been addressed specifically, rather accepted as the natural state of things after her return and recovery. But even still, Sam was a little surprised at the now-obvious progression of things.

As Deeks returned his attention to the file in front of him, he fiddled absent-mindedly with the slim gold band on his left ring finger, still not completely used to its weight on his finger. Sam smiled to himself and looked at his own ring as he heard voices coming from the entrance.

Kensi entered the mission carrying a cardboard carrier with four venti coffees that she started distributing, starting with Deeks. As she used her left hand, Sam caught a glimpse of a her matching gold band.

"Thanks. Good vacation? It looks like you two could have used another week." Sam asked, honestly curious. The two junior agents looked exhausted.

"Monty was sick last night." Kensi offered, slumping in her seat and inhaling the scent of her coffee before she took a sip.

"He got into some people food he shouldn't have, spent most of last night at the vet." Deeks finished his wife's thought.

A little surprising that it was here and not in the field that Sam felt his partner's absence most acutely. Had he been there, this teasing session would have been a lot more fun. But the petite red-headed analyst that had just entered the room, pushing herself up on Callen's abandoned desk and claiming the last coffee, would be a pretty good pinch hitter. Sam tilted his head slightly towards Kensi, who was still gripping her coffee with both hands like it was her savior.

Nell, catching out of the corner of her eye what Sam was on to, decided to play along.

"As temporary operations manager, I'm to assume that neither of you are functioning at one hundred percent?" She asked in a tone that Hetty would probably refer to as cheeky.

"What do you mean by that?" Deeks, looking up from the same page on the file that he'd been reading for the last twenty minutes, Kensi's focus was still on her coffee. "We're good to go if we get a case. Always prepared."

"Not possible that your observational skills are slipping because of lack of sleep? To the point, that I don't know, you might show up to work as part of your personal cover?"

"Ok, now you've really lost me. Can't we play quiz-the-junior-agents game after Kens and I have at least made it through one cup of coffee?"

"Sure, just two last questions" Sam had broken out into a large grin by this point, Nell was really selling this, "Where are you two registered? And if we just call for Deeks, will you both show up? That would be much more efficient."

Kensi's and Deeks'; eyes locked. They'd known this moment was inevitable, they worked with federal investigators after all. They'd even discussed how to tell the team in the days that followed their civil ceremony. Direct, honest, simple had been the plan. There had been too many lies and half-truths over the past couple of months. They had decided to get married, yes, because they loved each other, but also as a touchstone in the inevitable craziness that was their lives. It was a little ironic that something as simple, as mundane, as a sick dog, had thrown them for a loop.

But in turn, maybe it was for the best, the lightness and comraderie of the morning a needed break from the heaviness of the previous months.

"Civil ceremony, two weeks ago." Kensi offered.

"Figured I'd finally make an honest woman out of her." The Deeks sense of humor coming back as the caffeine took affect.

Eric's whistle cut through the mission, bringing everyone back into work mode. We've got a coded message from Callen. Looks like he may have found something he needs our help with."

"Time to get to work," Granger appeared next to the tech, "We can congratulate the Agents Deeks later."

Despite the monotone from Granger, there was a glint of approval in his eyes.

Sam squeezed Deeks shoulder as they made their way up to ops.

"You're gonna love married life."

"Already do man, already do. Now let's go help your work wife."

Despite the seriousness of the situation and the overwhelming worry for his partner Sam had felt since Callen left on this personal mission, he couldn't help but chuckle.


End file.
